Man Executed in Okla. for Slaying

Published 8:00 pm, Monday, January 28, 2002

A man who had been on death row since 1987 was executed by injection Tuesday night for robbing and killing a jewelry dealer.

John Romano's execution was the state's first this year. Oklahoma led the nation with 18 executions in 2001.

Romano, 43, had been sentenced to death for the 1985 murder of Roger Sarfaty, 52, in Sarfaty's Oklahoma City apartment. Sarfaty, who earned money dealing jewelry out of his home, was stabbed in the heart and strangled.

Romano, a former car salesman, lifted his head off the table in the execution chamber and smiled at the four witnesses attending on his behalf.

"For whoever I've wronged, I'd like for them to forgive me," he said. "I'd like to tell my family and friends I love you. Thanks for your love and support."

Romano also was sentenced to die for killing and robbing another man a year after Sarfaty was killed.

Romano's co-defendant in both cases, David Wayne Woodruff, is scheduled to be executed Thursday.